New road safety campaign starts

Amid fears of road accident numbers soaring during the festive season, a new safety awareness campaign, Phepha #SeeTomorrow, on Tuesday received an unprecedented reception at the Wanderers Street taxi rank – one of Johannesburg’s busiest.

Taxi drivers and commuters signed a road safety pledge before embarking on long-distance journeys to coastal cities.

According to national department of transport statistics, at least 30 people die on South African roads daily – 70% due to behaviour-related accidents: speeding, drinking and driving, jaywalking and not wearing seatbelts – with 50% of those killed being pedestrians.

The Phepha safety message (meaning being safe and aware in Zulu) is spearheaded by the Transport Education Training Authority (Teta) and championed by popular artists Dawn Thandeka King, Hamilton Dhlamini, Mduduzi Mabaso, Zikhona Bali and Vele Manenje.

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This month, next month and in February, the campaign will be activated in various parts of Gauteng, with Phepha teams spreading awareness in shopping malls, taxi ranks and other locations.

Teta chief executive Maphefo Anno-Frempong said encouraging road users to change their usual habits would make some headway on bringing down road carnage statistics.

These include avoiding texting and drinking while driving.

“To me, a campaign of this nature is so important to preserving people’s lives and reminding them that they all have a role to play in keeping themselves and others safe,” said Anno-Frempong.

“Getting taxi drivers to participate in a community-owned campaign is the best approach.

“This has been a heart-warming ceremony, coming to meet the drivers at the taxi rank.

“This time, not to give them tickets or fines, but encouraging them to work with us in addressing the scourge of road accidents and raise awareness.

“Lives are so important, that one life lost has a terrible effect on the family.

“We implement these campaigns with our stakeholders, not once, but throughout the year, working with different categories of road users.”

Anno-Frempong expressed concern about “a disturbing tendency by some people not understanding that freedom comes with responsibility”.

“When you cross a traffic light, you are given seconds to do so. But you also find pedestrians walking through a red light, endangering themselves and motorists.”

Television actor Hamilton Dhlamini, famous for playing the character Bonga in DiepCity, rolled up his sleeves to distribute road safety pamphlets at the taxi rank.

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Dhlamini told The Citizen: “The response of taxi drivers and commuters has been positive. Some have conceded that it is drinking and driving behind the increase in accident numbers.

“But, today, we are not here to point fingers.

“Many of our people are sustaining injuries, some dying, in road accidents because of negligence.

“As a role model, I thought it very important for me to be part of the Phepha #SeeTomorrow road safety campaign, making sure that the people looking up to me, know that I support road safety at all times. I commit to associate myself with this campaign until numbers drop to zero.

“We are in the main rank of Wanderers Street where all the major departures are taking place.

“They are now going home and we need to find a process of reminding them when they return.

“I will make sure to deepen the fight against road accidents while I am still alive and people will always remember my Bonga character in the film DiepCity.”

– brians@citizen.co.za